marciano denies the allegations, but it's affecting business. guess' stock has dropped 20% since upton spoke out. that's right. thanks for joining us this wednesday. i'm the next step is going to be on them. it's going to be their fault. >> we're going to get something done. >> he may have an a plus rating from the nra but not from us. >> school safety is a top priority. >> our message from the politicians, if you aren't with us, you're against us. >> a new report says jared kushner fighting back against the chief of staff's security clearance crackdown. >> i don't know how this gets resolved. >> there is already tension. it's going to be worse. >> this president has been tougher on russia in the first year than obama was in eight years combined. >> the assertion is laughable. the obama administration was tough on russia.

>> they had a honeymoon with donald trump. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. it is wednesday, february 21st, 6:00 here in new york. students are taking their fight to lawmakers at the state capitol. the kids have suffered a setback. the republican-controlled house refuses to debate an assault weapons instead pornography a health risk. >> listening is good. action is what is demanded. the president surprised many by calling for better background checks. the question will be how does that translate into his party in congress. there is still no word from the

gop leadership that they are going to take up this cause. we continue to invite senator ted cruz and the leadership on here to "new day" to test what they can do to stop these shootings. cnn is going to hold a special townhall tonight. you'll see survivors, parents, and florida politicians, including republican senator marco rubio, all working toward a solution. meantime, the white house insisting that president trump has been tougher on russia than obama's entire eight years in office and denying that the president ever questioned russia's meddling in the u.s. election. we will give you the facts on that situation. let's begin our coverage with cnn's diane gallagher live in tallahassee with our top story. >> reporter: 100 students asleep in the civic center behind me. in two hours they will march with the state capitol. sit is a bittersweet day for

them, a one-week anniversary of the massacre at their school that killed 17 of their friends and teachers. they say they are going to use the inspiration from those victims to find strength in the meetings with 70 lawmakers today and the republican governor despite suffering that legislative setback already. >> they want to throw it away, sweep it under the rug. you can't sweep anything under the rug anymore. >> reporter: survivors of the florida high school massacre voicing outrage as the state's republican-controlled legislature vote against a measure to vote on a ban on semiautomatic weapons. >> the motion is not adopted. >> reporter: students overcome with emotion as the bill was defeated. >> the next step on someone with an assault rifle here in florida is going to be on them. it's going to be on them and it's going to be their fault. >> reporter: nearly all 71

lawmakers who struck down the bill have an a rating from the nra. instead of debating guns, lawmakers choosing to begin on a bill that declares public as a public health risk. dozens of students from douglas high traveling 400 miles by bus. the rallying cry, never again, as they hope to pressure l lawmakers into taking action on gun control. >> our emergency to the politicians, if you aren't with us, you're against us. we're trying to save the lives of innocent children. >> we need to strive for change. we have fall especially victim to lazy legislation for far as long. >> reporter: governor rick scott promising to unveil a legislative plan by friday. >> my goal is to come up with something that will move the needle and make parents feel comfortable that their kids are going to a safe school. >> and strengthening background checks for gun purchases after a

national poll shows an overwhelming number of americans want it to happen. earlier in the day, mr. trump directed the justice department to propose regulations that would ban bump stocks. a process that has been ongoing since the las vegas massacre. >> we're working very hard. we're going to come up with solutions. it's been many, many years and there have been no solutions. we're going to come up with solutions. >> reporter: there trump's only action on guns since taking office was to undo restrictions on mental illness. this as the president's son don jr. comes under scrutiny for liking two twitter posts pushing conspiracy theories about the florida shooting survivor david hagg and his father being a former fbi agent.

president trump is going to hold a listening session this afternoon with parents, students, and teachers who survived and lived through mass shootings in the united states. the president may be open to imposing an age limit on ar-15 style weapons. but stopped short of saying he wanted to rein state the assault weapon ban. chris, alisyn, that is something that the students i spoke to on the bus said is encouraging talk from the president but they say talk is just talk and they're not going to rest until they see some action. >> understood. thank you for all the action from there. joining us to talk about is cnn analyst john avlon and editor at large chris solcillizza. the kids made a pilgrimage to the state capitol. and the governor expressed interest in hearing from them. he said he will move the needle.

he will have a proposal by friday. this is a day where these two sides coming to and are going to be hashing all of this out. >> let's hope. the nra and backers hope people forget. that's part of their strategy. if rick scott says he will set up, that is on him. marco rubio, what's he going to do? press for specifics and follow it through. we saw from las vegas, everyone said that about bump stocks and we got nothing. crickets. >> you will get nothing done if this stays along. what are the signs. i know it is the common vernacular of how we discuss it, but it is a mistake. it lead to the impasse. you have the state level and the federal level. bad news at the state level.

they had to know how embarrassing this would be in the statehouse to vote down a motion to discuss weapons and then discuss porn as a public safety threat. they know how embarrassing that is. they did it anyway. >> they do it candidly, chris. it's cynical but true. they do it because they do not believe there are political conscious questions to doing so. they believe it is opening up what has been cast as pandora's box when it comes to gun control legislation. so i think you have to have two things. one, you have to have a muscular gun control advocacy group, organization, satellite constellation of organizations that can make legislators on the state and federal level feel like there are consequences to

what happened yesterday. you have to have a debate. this is one i'm more skeptical of on. i think the nra bears whether credit, responsibility, plame, for this. if in fact, it is seen as an wall or nothing proposition. that either uh-oh poyo you oppo restrictions on on gun rights, people will come to our house and collect your guns. it is not true. >> it is fundamentally false. you look at justice scalia's decision. there is a place for reasonable gun control. >> it was done really very recently. >> that's right. that's part of the conversation we should be having. it's also about members of congress really confronting these kids. what the florida legislature did

last night falls in line with old reflexes, a ratings from the nra. but the fact that they went on to talk about pornography as a public health. how about the pornography of violence rather than the pornography of sex. if it's easy to feel like they will get a credit for one and ultimately boom will forget because that's what happened after sandy hook, that is the real pornography we should be discuss as society.

>> 97% of people support expanded background checks. >> this is where it gets sticky. too bad because you have to take the momentum where you find it. they go down the road of background checks. what do the 97% want? all sales covered by background checks. it's just common accepts. the next thing is you will have two asks on the republican side. one is let's look at mental health and which people should be reviewed differently.

for access. that sounds good. it will not sound good to a lot of democrats. they have fought for privacy rights and the fact that people won't seek treatment. those are not justifiable in science. how does that play out? background checks sounds like a no brawner right now. >> and the truth of the matter, candidly, if you look at that quinnipiac poll has a trend line, the number you just showed. they have a trend line of support for background checks. it's not as though it was 30% five years ago. it was 89%. i mean, it's higher today. but it wasn't low before. we still haven't gotten any action. the reason, chris, as you point out, the devil is in the details to some extent. what you make the background closing the loopholes, what you make people qualify for background checks, all of that stuff is the problem. one other reminder, i do think kids are powerful.

i do think, to alisyn's point, they have to stay on it. nothing gets solved in politics in a week. i'm always reminded, though, of 2013, the mothers and fathers of-year-olds murdered in my home state of connecticut sitting down face-to-face with senators who were on the fence about legislation and saying we have to have this vote. and it never happened. yes, this is powerful. but do not assume that it is a seed change. i assumed after sandy hook -- >> yeah, as we all did. >> and it wasn't. >> that's been the argument that's been used to defend cynicism in washington why this can't get done. 6-year-olds were slaughtered and nothing got done. but the kids have the ability to give voice to this in a different way. 97% isn't subject.

devil is in the details. yes, compromise will be key. but 97%, maybe that will get the politicians's attention. >> i wouldn't say nothing got done after newtown. in terms of people feeling helpless, things did change. >> at the state level, yes. >> we don't know what path it will take. but things can be done. and connecticut has paved the way in that way. >> you can see it state by state. you're right, there is a blessing and a curse. we thought florida would follow suit. i don't know about that now. south carolina did. the problem is on the federal level you're seeing the big point from the right is reciprocity. if a state has lax rights, they get to travel everywhere elsewhere it's strong. that's where it gets sticky. but alisyn is right. you have to have hope, otherwise, why wake up in the morning. jake tapper will host a townhall

tonight at 9:00. >> i will do some reporting before and tomorrow we will do the broadcast from there. >> you will see survivors there, lawmakers. and hopefully they will take questions and start taking solutions. there is a feud between jared kushner and chief of staff john kelly over the crackdown on security clearances which we know jared does not have a full one of, sorry for the syntax. with big dreams...

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all right. the white house is claiming that president trump has been tougher on russia than president obama in his entire eight years in office. this is an eyebrow popper, right? it comes amid scrutiny for jared kushner's security clearance and that heating up an invite within the white house about what to do about his clearance. it is an important distinction. this isn't like democrats saying what are you going to do about it? this is a problem in their own house >> reporter: that's right. it's a big problem for the white house this week. among other things, dealing with the russia issue and also dealing with the issue over security clearances. on friday, chief of staff john kelly has new rules that will go into place for people with interim security clearances,

restricting their access to highly classified information. one of them is the president's son-in-law jared kushner. it's not clear whether those rules will apply to him. >> nothing that has taken place will affect the valuable work that jared is doing. >> reporter: the white house downplaying the impact that chief of staff john kelly's directive will have on the president's son-in-law jared kushner. the "new york times" reports that kushner and kelly are engaged in an internal struggle with kushner expressing concern that he has been personally targeted and insists that he maintain his current level of access to highly sensitive action. kelly released a memo saying he plans to discontinue top secret access for individuals unable to get a full security clearance since before last june. kushner is one of dozens of staffers who still don't have authorized clearance. kelly issued a statement defending him before the story

broke saying he has full confidence in his ability to continue performing his duties. separately, white house press secretary sarah sanders pushing back on criticism that president trump has not been tuff 'n uff on russia for meddling in the u.s. election. parroting this false tweet from the president. >> he has been tougher on russia in the first year than obama was eight years combined. >> reporter: president obama confronted russian president putin after the dnc hacking, 'em pelling 35 russian diplomats out of the u.s., closing two russian compounds, and imposing sanctions against nine russian individuals. by comparison, mr. trump has yet to impose sanctions overwhelmingly passed by congress last summer. he has hosted russian diplomats and denies russian meddling. >> the russia story is a total

fabrication. >> russia did not help me, okay? >> i call it the russian hoax. >> it is a democrat hoax. >> reporter: sanders hinting tuesday that new information is about to come to light. >> he has done a number of things to put pressure on russia and to be tough on on russia. last week there was an incident that would be reported in the coming days. >> reporter: the press secretary also attempting to walk back this tweet from the president, blaming the fbi for missing a tip about the florida massacre because they were too busy with the russia investigation. >> i think he was speaking not necessarily that that is the cause. i think we all have to be aware that the cause of this is that of a deranged individual. >> reporter: alisyn and chris, the russia investigation marches on. tuesday there was another guilty plea. this time a dutch lawyer and the son-in-law of a russian billionaire who admitted to lying to investigators about his contacts with a former trump

aide rick gates. >> abby, thank you very much. we are joined again by john avlon and chris cillizza is. let's start with jared kushner. he reportedly doesn't want to give up his access to secret information. i think one thing we don't mention enough is he has an l.i.c. that is limited, limited interim clearance. it is supposed to be limited. he's actually not supposed to have access to the top secret information, but he does. and he has access to the daily presidential brief. so we don't know what is going to change. john kelly is cracking down on this. we have no idea what that means for jared kushner. >> which is why we have nepotism laws in the first place. if we do the kremlinology of the white house, pun intended, you will get a fight between he and kelly. they will play the trump card saying this isn't fair. it is an insane system in place. kelly is trying to impose a little bit of structure finally. give a little pat on the back

saying he can deal with russia -- unintended pun on that one. mexico and the middle east. this is exactly why we have nepotism laws. they have fallen out of favor and they need to be reinstated. >> the president feels mexico is a far bigger threat to the united states than russia. >> we know rob porter had a temporary clearance and was handling top secret and classified documents because he was handling everything that the president saw. okay. but now you have someone who is not only doing that but is also the son-in-law of the president of the united states who appears to be benefiting from a carveout that this president has always made in his life. the rules do not apply as it relates to his family. that's been the case. it continues to be the case. it's the the whole, yeah, my

assets are in a blind trust. well, no, they're not not. don junior&eric -- we never talk politics. well. this is all of a piece. and, again, i do think this is important. it is not about jared kushner versus john kelly, ivanka and jared versus whoever. this is about national security. this is about people having access. there is a reason why jared kushner has that limited clearance and has not been approved, right? there are questions about financial dealings, as we reported during the transition. other questions about his reporting on sraeur yours forms prior to him entering office. there is a reason for this. this is not accidental. when you have someone who has not been cleared handling very sensitive or reading very sensitive information, we have protocols in place on purpose to prevent stuff like this. >> yeah. that's such a great point.

this is not a red tape holdup. >> no. >> this is because he didn't pass the background check. >> hasn't yet. >> that's why he has only limited access. >> millions of dollars he hasn't disclosed to russia just like normal americans. >> sarah sanders trying to tell the press room that donald trump has been much tougher on russia than barack obama ever was. >> he has been tougher on russia in the first year than obama was in eight years combined. he's imposed sanctions. he's taken away properties. he's rebuilt our military. he has done a number of things to put pressure on russia and to be tough on russia. just last week there was an incident that would be reported in the coming days. >> good tease. good tease, sarah sanders. she's using the trumpian tease. what is that incident we know nothing about. >> i can't wait for the next episode of this reality show called our lives.

reality check. that is wrong. he has not been tougher on russia. it's not even closed. during the election he was concerned if he called out meddling during the election. but after the election, they ramped it up. they kicked out diplomats, imposed sanctions, removed properties, actually in real terms. and trump keeps dodging and dancing and refusing to condemn one of the most easily condemn the easiest person on the planet earth, vladimir putin. >> 98-2 they pass the sanctions. they're not going as aggressively as they could. why? we don't know. the talk about putin. the president spares no one his tongue except vladimir putin. we still don't understand why. you get to the big one which is the russian interference. let's remind you what this president has said time and again about what the unkop

uncontroverted. >> any time something wrong happens they like to say it is the russians. we don't know if it's the russians. >> hunging is a hard thing to prove. >> what i said there is i believe he believes that. somebody to believe.ant for - i believe that he feels that he and russia did not meddle in the election. >> anybody? >> look at cillizza's face. make that face again. there it is. >> look, you can't say this enough. the entire u.s. intelligence committee unanimously has said for basically the last year, yes, russia sought to actively interfere in the election. yes, they did so to help donald trump and to hurt hillary clinton because they believed he

would be better for their long term interests. i just don't know why that's a debate. unless you believe, and candidly donald trump has espoused some of these beliefs, that there is a deep state conspiracy in the intelligence community, the justice department, the fbi against donald trump. that's the only way that you don't believe that's the fact. >> trump just thinks it looks bad. the administration has done the right thing on russia. it has been the pentagon. jim mattis and other folks saying russia is a real threat. we need to take it seriously. he gets rebuked by the president when he has the termerity to say that. >> by all accounts, we have done nothing to stop it from happening in the midterms and

beyond. >> yes. . that's the important thing. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. it is some of the worst violence we have seen in syria in this very long civil war. hundreds of civilians, children are being killed, are being murdered as the regime escalates attacks on the rebel opposition. this is a place in crisis. we'll take you there next. ♪ ♪ ♪ (vo) you can pass down a subaru forester. but you get to keep the memories. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. (avo) get 0% apr financing on all new 2018 subaru forester models. now through february 28th. mom'#stuffynosecold #nosleep #mouthbreather just put on a breathe right strip

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says the death toll includes 58 children, 42 women. 13 medical facilities have been targeted and three of its health workers killed there. oh, my gosh. >> i think you should look at the images. when that reality really hits you because so many of you have children, even if you don't you have hearts with compassion filling them up, something has to happen. the images tell the reason why. >> the state department says vice president mike pence was set to meet secretly with north korea app officials at the winter olympics but north korea backed out at the last minute. it included the sister of kim jong-un. the abrupt camation was awe sign that attempts to exert pressure on the regime to abandon its nuclear missile and nuclear programs were working. a democrat in kentucky has won a statehouse seat in a district are president trump won 72% of the vote in 2016.

she lost her seat in a close race in 2016 but has defeated her gop opponent by 68-32 margin. now, this is a bit of an unusual election, a special election to replace johnson's husband, a former pastor. he killed himself in december after being accused of sexually abusing a member of his congregation. he denied the charges. "new york times" columnist tom freeman issued a code red for america. what does that mean? why does tom feel it so necessary? he makes the case next. at holiday inn express, we can't guarantee that you'll be able to contain yourself at our breakfast bar.

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the white house says president trump has had a tufrb response to russian meddling than president obama did in his entire eight years in office.to meddling than president obama did in his entire eight years in office. a new op ed, thomas friedman wrote, this is code red. the biggest threat to the

integrity of our democracy today is in the office office. author of the best seller, "thank you for being late." ironic, because this is always on time. code red? why? >> well, chris, we just experienced i would say the biggest threat or challenge to the integrity of our democratic system with the russian interference in our elections. we go back to 2014. and the president's response to this has been basically appalling. appallingly inept and appalli appallingly basically inactive. we have to step back, chris, and say what would a real president be doing in the face of two things. one, our three intelligence chiefs testifying in the last two weeks that not only were the russians hacking our election, both trying to poison realizes between different americans and tilt the election toward trump

but they are still doing it, our intelligence chiefs told us, nsa, fbi, cia, and they plan to do it in the next election. following that, mueller issues a report indicting 13 russians for that kind of activity and several russian companies. now, what would a real president do in the face of those two things? he would do three things. one, give a speech to the country educating every america on what happened here and what is at stakement he would call together all the stakeholders around our election issues, state and local election officials, the leaders of our two parties, a police and, you know, election authorities. and basically come up with a plan, a defensive plan to make sure this doesn't continue to happen, or if it does, we can insulate our elections from this kind of hacking. and lastly, calling together his national security team and say develop for me an offensive

plan. we have been sitting here while putin, for the last four years, basically, has been trying to spread lines that poison our politics and undermine our democracy and i as president want to spread truth about putin, all the money he stole and all the russians he made disappear in order to undermine his autocracy. donald trump has done nothing. it is appalling. >> he said russia does this all the time. we do the same thing. he said the left is just using this to delegitimize his election and that's why he won't give it his attention. do you accept that? >> look, in the cold war, there is no question, we, the russians, chinese, everyone meddled in everyone's elections. that was a world that was a chess board divided by red and red white and blue. i think this is a quality

aeufbly different moment. russian didn't have elections. we have a real symmetry here. >> now, the question is why? why the president is doing this. you have a theory in there, one of two reasons. either inept attitude or he's hiding something. i want you to explain that. but put context into it why it can't be as simple as him saying it is bad for my legitimacy so i'm going to be against it. why do you think it could be something else? >> chris, let's start at 30,000 feet. for the last year, for the first year applause of trump's presidency, we have seen him violate the norms of what we think are proper conduct for a president. massive amounts of lying and misleading statements. endless tweeting. ridiculous childish behavior. we have seen them violate norms of a president. when the president of the united states, in the face of public

warnings by his three intelligence chiefs, tell us our democratic system is being attacked by a foreign power, when he doesn't respond to that, that is not violating norms anymore. that is violating his oath of office to protect and defend the constitution. that's why i call it code red. >> so, tom, just to have people understand what's going on here, you wrote this and put it out online. this wasn't one of the typical things you were putting out in the newspaper and you thought you would get wide distribution. how surprised were you that something you posted online went so viral and why do you think it was? >> it is an unusual day for my column. it is wednesday. i wrote it on monday. i read in the paper what was going on. i asked my editors if i could write a column online and not in the newspaper. they encouraged me to do it. the reaction for me has been overwhelming. it simply tells me that many,

many americans have been feeling the same thing. chris, people are worried about our country. this is america. our country is at stake. our president is a disturbed person. and he's behaving in ways that are simply in ex plicable that tell you he is either compromised because the russians have been funding his companies he would find would be embarrassing if publicly disclosed. that's why he hasn't shown his tax returns. or because of behavior he engaged in moscow or he is simply a towering fool ignoring the advice of his intelligence chiefs. and over in germany at a conference, rather than summoning him home to lead a response to russia, he rebukes him. i have no idea what the impact

is one way or the other. what is unacceptable is this behavior continues and heis not responding. he is not leading a response. that is not presidential. it is deeply disturbing behavior. chris, we are the world. i say that with no arrogance. we have been the foundation of the liberal order. if america doesn't lead, i promise you your kids will grow up in a world where nobody will lead. so this is really dangerous. our president is a disturbed person. and i don't know what we do about it. when he was violating the norms of the office, we all found it entertaining to some degree or whatever. whatever. we were able to tolerate it. when he violates the actual strictures of the office, that is deeply troubling. what magnifies it is his party is complicit as well. they are completely silent in the face of this behavior and you know if hillary clinton had done one of the things --

>> oh, that's for sure. >> reporter: let alone the whole totality, we would be in impeachment. >> there is a toxic partisanship at play, whether it's ryan, mcconnell, who were always men of conscious and hence. we have the gun situation where he has done nothing up until now. now he is the only and, of course biggest voice in his party, saying we have to look at background checks. maybe bump stocks should be illegal. background checks. maybe we should look at raising the age of who can buy an assault weapon. how do you square that? >> that's great, if he follows through. we have seen this before on different policies where something big happens and he raises a contrary position. . we have seen it on tax issues.

we have seen it on trade. i have seen it in the israel palestinian thing. he said things and said wow. but where is the follow through, chris? where is the policy? not just floating balloons out there. we have a terrible gun problem, a complete vacuum of leadership with the ruling party. democrats obviously are for gun control. you know, you've got to -- you actually don't just raise things. you have to go out and create a constituency in the country to change the laws in meaningful way. is president trump ready to do that? that's what leadership is about. not just floating ideas and then getting talked out of them when some pollster tells him it will offend his base. >> on that level, maybe there is a ray of sunshine here. i've never heard -- you have been following this longer than i have. i have never heard anything 95% policy related. 97% say they want something done

on guns. tom friedman, always appreciate your perspective on the things that matter to us. thanks for being on the show. >> thanks for having me, chris. okay. to the olympics. american skier lindsey vonn going for gold in likely the final downhill race of her olympic career. how did she do? the "bleacher report" is next. don't upgrade your seat. upgrade your airline. fly emirates. the best economy class in the world.

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lindsey vonn brings home the bronze in what will likely be her final downhill. >> reporter: good morning to you, alisyn. this "bleacher report" brought to you by the 2018 ford f-150. last olympic run for vonn. she made history with the bronze. at 33, the oldest won to ever medal in olympic downhill skiing. in her last event, the alpine combined. what happened to women in figure

sweeting? mirai nagasu and tinell both fell. the worst top placing american in women's olympic figure skating since world war ii in sixth place. they have some making up to do. norway still crushing it. finally good news for team usa. first ever gold medal in women's cross country skiing moments ago from jessie diggins and keegan randall. they jump to fourth in the medal count. chris? >> stay positive, my brother. stay positive. baseless conspiracy theories. yes, people are attacking the kids. now, the president, what does he think of this? someone who has his ear is giving credence to the lies. who? why? next. ♪ life goes on, yes, life goes on... ♪

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as sure as the sun will rise, crazy conspiracy theories will crop up after tragedies. and that's what's happening in the wake of the parkland school massacre. some of these conspiracies even make it to the statehouse and some to the white house. let's discuss with host of

"reliable sources" brian stelter. i'll just put up some examples, all from the usual suspects that you would imagine to, you know, just peddle this conspiracy nonsen nonsense. they say the school shooting survivors are activists. they appear to have been coached on anti-trump lines because one of their fathers is in the fbi or was. there are questions around these teen activists. one of them says are they actors? are some of them crisis actors? here's the point. don jr., the president's son, liked some of these on twitter. how gullible is this guy? he's falling for these conspiracy theories that these kids who watched their friends be slaughtered and escaped with their lives? >> they are avoiding the real issues about guns and about

mental health and other issues. what you just heard is a form of pollution. just like the kind of on smoke that comes out of a factory. it poisons the environment for all of on us. the people that live closest to the factory and consume all the pollution suffer the most. but our society as a whole suffers when these outlandish sick theories spread. do we ignore it? a lot of people say we shouldn't even talk about these theories. we should let them live on youtube where they are. i don't think that's the right answer anymore. if you ignore the pollution up in the atmosphere, you're not helping to headache it any better. you may not be making it worse, but you're not helping to make it better. technology companies, news, has a role to play. >> that's interesting. i'm very torn. the only reason i think there is news value is because it is making it to the white house in the form of don jr. and the

florida statehouse. >> this is really disturbng. >> an aide to the state rep in florida who sent this e-mail to a reporter. he sends a picture of our interview with david hogg, one of the students, and emma, another one of the students and he says, by the way, both kids in this picture are not students here but actors that travel to various crisis when they happen. oh, my gosh! >> this started happening after sandy hook, this idea that it was a hoax, all the children were actors as a plot to take away people's guns. this idea spreads on youtube, twitter, facebook, on all of these social platforms. when it is not met with the truth, it is spread is even more widely, more quickly. >> next to someone showing up with a gun at a pizza joint in washington, d.c. trying to shoot up the place because of a conspiracy. >> this is cultural.

it is why people want to believe these kinds of lies. making sure they have access to the right information as well. i got into a lot of fights yesterday over e-mail who believe david hogg is an actor. i don't think i was able to change their minds. i'm not sure what the right answer is. >> stop engaging in the fights. >> but i was trying to say here are the facts about this kid. some people don't want to hear it. maybe i'm not the right messenger. maybe fox news will be for certain people. but we all have a role to play to stop some of the pollution because it is making our society sick. >> thhe was fired right after this. what kind of lack of critical thinking if you're working in the white house and you think to send that to a reporter. so he was fired. people are taking action. >> right. >> it's